A smaller living space may have you saying, “Bah! Humbug!” to throwing a holiday soirée, but there’s no reason to be a Scrooge at this time of the year. So, with a dash of hope and a sprinkle of creativity, we will have you on your way to hosting the party of the year. As you read these tips, your reservations should melt away.1. Create more space.To create more space, architecture design, store pieces of large unnecessary furniture in your garage, bedroom, or friend’s place temporarily. You can store things such as large ottomans and bulky chairs. One of the key successes for every party is space to mingle and move around comfortably so focus to create the perfect balance of seating and standing room.

2. Utilize every nook and cranny.Make your bedroom the official spot for coats, hats, and scarves. If you keep your guests from laying their bulky coats all over the apartment, space will be freed up. A cheerful tablecloth can also camouflage your washer and dryer and convert it into the perfect beverage station. If you want to get really fancy, remove your books from the bookshelf and transform it into a festive bar. *Bonus points: Add holiday wrapping paper on the inside back of the bookcase for extra flair.3. Keep the food simple.Chances are you won’t have a whole lot of sitting room in your apartment. Plan to serve appetizers than can be easily enjoyed while standing. Great appetizers and finger foods are much more convenient than foods that need cutting. Visit ﻿Food.com﻿or Pinterest for great recipes and ideas or if you’re running out of time, check your neighborhood Whole Foods store for their selection of appetizers and order online.4. Establish a flow for the party.Visualize the flow of your party and plan accordingly. To keep people from gathering in the same space at once, place beverages and food in strategic locations throughout the dining and living areas and plan activities all around the apartment. This should help your guests feel more comfortable and less cramped.5. Decorate appropriately.It may be a little overwhelming to display all of your holiday decorations and knick knacks. Create a beautiful centerpiece on your dining table and add just the right amount of holiday decorations throughout your apartment. What are you waiting for ? Send those invitations. The holidays are such a special time to spend with friends and family, so don’t let renting an apartment interfere with creating holiday memories. If you know a fellow apartment dweller who could also benefit from this advice, please share these tips with them, as well.

Having a roommate has its perks. Nobody likes bills or chores, but when you have a roommate you can split them both! However, in order for things to run smoothly, you should sit down and establish expectations with your potential roomie before signing a lease. Discuss the following questions to establish whether or not you are compatible living partners.What is your age?Being in different stages of life of life may not be ideal.How often do you go out?Will you be comfortable if your roommate comes home in the wee hours of the morning and makes a lot of ruckus while you are trying to sleep? Will they be respectful of your schedule? On the flip side, will your roommate be a homebody and never leave the house?Do you have pets?Nothing can cause waves in a relationship like pet drama. Is your roommate’s pet a handful, and will she ask you to walk and feed her pet on a regular basis?What is your cleanliness level?Everyone has their preferences on how often they clean. If one roommate is extreme one way or the other, arguments about chores may occur.What is your relationship status?Make sure to ask this question and discuss the rules about significant others coming over and how often. Will you be ok with overnight guests?How often do you like to hang out with your roommate?Some people want to have roommates for companionship and others have too busy of schedules to bond with their roommate.Do you have a steady job?You want to know that your roommate can be dependable and share their half of the expenses.What are your thoughts on house parties?Some roommates are okay hosting guests on a regular basis and others prefer to keep the party away from home. Do you cook often?If it is beneficial to both parties, and you have a similar schedule, it may be a good idea to plan some meals together to save time and money. The list above is not inclusive. You will still have to discuss your philosophy on sharing condiments and who gets the parking space. The important thing is to know what you can tolerate, and discuss where you draw the line. If you can both agree to respect each other, chances are you’ll have a successful roommate relationship.

When we buy a house, we always dream to make it a dream home. This conversion from house to home is tricky, tedious, time taking and tiring task. We often have thoughts of what we need – ambiguous thoughts and trust me, we have never been able to actually visualize our needs. We always remain in the midst of “something like this and something like that”. This is where a need of professional Interior Designer arises. Someone who can understand our ambiguous thoughts and shapes them up, show it to us and then execute them and covert our ambiguous thoughts into reality. A true designer is like a mirror. You look into the mirror and see your reflection. A mirror in itself is always blank, so does a designer is. A designer always remains neutral to tastes, likes, choices and preferences etc. A true designer will never put his taste across to his clients. Instead, he shall always understand the taste of the client and then develop Interior accordingly. A designer has the capability to maximum utilize the available space, rather create additional space to available and still ensure that the space is aesthetically beautiful. Hiring a professional Interior Designer has multiple advantages to the project. He shall:

Shall understand and help you understand of how you actually like your home to be. Proper planning and 3D designs helps.

Shall prepare budget before hand and you will always know how much you will shell out and have more control on you monetary expenses.

Shall negotiate with 3rd Party vendors and help you getting reasonably priced yet experienced and skilful labour.

Shall help you in your buying decisions for accessories, furnishing etc.

Shall guide you with technical pros and cons of any project related decisions.

Shall ensure that all execution is happening with utmost finish and quality.

Shall ensure and manage deadlines to the project.

Shall save a lot of time and money during the entire project tenure.

Next time when you plan to convert your house into home, hire a professional Interior Designer.

Four Ways to Make Your Apartment More Romantic

Making your apartment feel a bit more romantic and welcoming could help keep your relationship fresh – or help to start a new relationship. Feel free to steal these tips to give your apartment a romantic makeover.1. Decorate with fresh plants and flowers.Some could argue that the flower is a symbol of romance – so why not keep it present in your home? The fragrance of flowers mixed with fresh potted plants is a great way for a romantic home to smell. The vases and pots are equally as important as what is inside of them. Make sure they are pristine and fit the décor of your home.2. Use soft, comfy decorative accessories.A couch is not a couch unless it has its own accessories. Make your living room more romantic by having an incredibly soft throw and comfy, decorative pillows. Having these sofa trimmings will draw people to curl up on your couch and feel comfortable in your home. Having a desirable couch is a huge part of making your apartment more romantic.3. Get rid of clutter.There’s nothing that can ruin romance quite like stepping on a Lego or not being able to find a place on the counter for a candle. (Remember the Friends episode when Ross visited a date’s apartment to find a mess?) One step to making sure your apartment is more welcoming is clearing the clutter. Uncluttering your home gives you the ability to unclutter your mind – allowing you to be more romantic. Decluttering your apartment will help you and your significant other breathe easier.4. Hang up pictures.Displaying your relationships through pictures is a way to make feel more comfortable and happy in your home – which ultimately leads to romance. Hang up pictures of you and your significant other as well as pictures of you with your friends and family. Make sure they’re framed! This will give the impression that you value your relationships enough to put time into displaying them around your home. Any apartment can be romantic – it’s just about working with the space you have. We wish you lots of fun in romanticizing your apartment!

Though ignoring those dust bunnies under tables, the fingerprints on the windows and the mass of holiday clutter in the corner is the easier approach – it would be smart to get a jump on spring cleaning before your apartment turns into one huge hot mess. Before you stress out and come to the conclusion that the task is too big to take on, read over some of these tips to help ease your mind.Purge Your ClutterAfter the holidays, we are usually left with a plethora of unnecessary clutter in our apartments. Whether it be body lotions that we just didn’t need or reusable bows from gifts – these things tend to stack up, and let’s be honest – we don’t really need them. To avoid hoarder-syndrome, we suggest clearing your apartment of all the clutter that you are not attached to. A good rule of thumb: Get rid of it if it’s something that (in case of a clutter-necessary emergency) you can buy again at the dollar store.Make a List – Check it a Few TimesTake a minute, sit down and put together a task list of what you want to accomplish. Be sure to include everything on this list, from cleaning the refrigerator to wiping down the baseboards. Even if you think a task is impossible, having it written down on a list in front of you is a great first step to getting it accomplished (it makes it real!)Get Your SuppliesWhen you get in that cleaning mode, nothing can bring you down quicker than not having the right supplies. In addition to the broom and the vacuum, make sure you are stocked up on sponges, cleaners, trash bags, and the basics.Recruit HelpWhether it’s roommates, significant others or friends that owe you a favor – make sure your spring cleaning experience is not a one-person-job. Splitting up tasks or even working on the same task together can increase efficiency and cut down time. Having help is a mechanism to stop yourself from going completely insane from cleaning. If you’re having trouble finding assistance, we would recommend hiring a cleaning crew to kickstart the process for you, and take some of the pressure off of your back. Remember, your spring cleaning list does not have to be completed in one day! Spread the tasks out – focus on one at a time – that way, you can set your due date for Spring. Get ahead and have everything done by the time others are just starting- and then be sure to invite others over to show off your sparkling clean apartment!

I was able to visit New York City early October and wanted to share my favorite photo from the trip. Here is the view from the rooftop deck at Archstone Clinton, one of Archstone’s luxury apartment communities in Midtown Manhattan. I loved visiting with the staff, touring the amenities, checking out the fabulous apartments, and getting a feel for the neighborhood. Wouldn’t you love an afternoon on this deck to relax and enjoy a book ?

When Old Man Winter comes knocking at your Archstone apartment door, you want to be prepared for the bitter cold, wind and snow he usually brings along with him. We winterize our cars at the end of Autumn, so why not take the necessary steps to ensure your apartment is prepared for the harsh cold temperatures that December, January, February and sometimes March bring to many parts of the country. If you live in sunny Los Angeles, you may not need to winterize your apartment to the extent a New York City resident must. Regardless of where you live, winterizing your apartment is a good idea to ensure your utilities work well and efficiently during the winter season. Try these measures to winterize your apartment this year and keep your utility bills down:

Keep the thermostat turned down by setting the temperature to a couple of degrees lower than you usually do because for every degree you turn it down, you will save about 3% of your heating bill. Some experts even suggest keeping it as low as 55 degrees at night and 65 during the day. Program your thermostat to start the heat up about an hour before you arise in the morning, and then back down during the day while you’re at work. There’s no need to have heat blaring while you’re not even at your apartment. You can always get warmer by putting on a sweater or sweatshirt when you hang around the house. When you get your bill, you’ll be amazed at how much you’ve saved!

Put plastic around your windows to prevent cold air from seeping in because drafty windows can cause a bill to go up about 30%! Multiply that over 12 months, and we’re looking at hundreds of dollars here for the average home. For a $30 investment, you can save over a hundred dollars a month. Want to learn how you can quickly and easily cover your windows? Check out videos courtesy of youtube...

Close heating vents (registers) that you don’t need open. For instance, if there’s a room in your apartment like a spare bedroom or office that is rarely used, close off the registers in that room. Keep the door closed too because the less space you heat, the less money you have to spend.

Eliminate window air conditioners from your apartment. If your landlord allows window units, there’s really no reason to ever install one after September, and if you’re not able to remove the window air conditioners, ask your landlord to purchase an insulated cover for the units as these are like an open door to the cold outside air.

Use weather stripping around your doors and windows; it’s very inexpensive and will save you money in the long run.